Day 422 South Africa 29/12/2011, East London - Kidd's Beach. 20.35miles/33.41km, 1hr57minutes, Av 10.3mph.

Today was a pretty good way of getting back into the cycling after a lay off. The route out of East London was very straightforward, with minimal traffic, and for the main part the terrain was fairly rolling. Even the humid weather that we had woken up to eased and we had a warm yet entirely comfortable ride to Kidd's Beach.

Having been told that the camp-site was full, we were to be staying at the local primary school. The site is opened to campers for the holiday season. It looked pretty closed up when we rode past, but a quick phone call had someone down to let us in and we currently have the playing field to ourselves. Shade is a bit of a problem though, so we will be hoping that it cools down considerably during the evening!

Leaving our oven-like tent behind, we headed down to the very nice beach. A stroll along the water wading in the rock pools, was followed by a dip in the salt water pool. We haven't spent a great deal of our time on the beach since we arrived on the coast, so it was nice to get here early and have a wander.

Assuming the service is better than it was at lunchtime, we will probably have dinner at the local restaurant and then have an early night. We have a longer day with a couple of biggish climbs ahead of us tomorrow.

Day 421 South Africa 28/12/2011 Milkwood Farm, George – East London. Reunited with the bikes!

Despite having to catch the bus at 12:20am, I can thankfully say that I have no need for another rant. It was still a pretty awful journey; we couldn't get a seat together, they played music all night and a force fed child threw up everywhere. It has to be said though that, perhaps through exhaustion, we did at least get some sleep.

Arriving back in East London at just after 11am, we went to get some lunch, checked back into the hostel and arranged to go and pick up the bikes. Kindly the hostel owner gave us a lift to the bikes, which saved us a taxi ride.

As it turned out, any concerns we may have had about our gear proved to be unfounded. It is difficult not to feel protective over our bikes, they have been our constant companions for such a long time! Everything had been safely stored in the garage and after fixing yet another puncture in my front tyre, we were heading back to the hostel.

A quick trip to the supermarket has been pretty much the extent of our exertions for the rest of the day. We have a shortish day ahead of us tomorrow and then ride onwards to meet up with Larry and Sharon (we met in Egypt) for New Years.

Day 415 South Africa 22/12/2011, East London – Milkwood Farm, George. A long and slightly disturbing ride on the evangelical Intercape bus.

This morning was all about killing time before we boarded the bus bound for George. Having walked for what seemed like miles down the esplanade, we arrived outside the local Wimpy and had a hearty cooked breakfast to set us up for the journey ahead. By the time we had walked back and watched the hordes starting to gather for a street festival, it was time to board the bus.

It all started so well, the bus was a modern double-decker; we found ourselves a seat upstairs at the front with generous leg room and settled in for the 10 hour journey. What we hadn't expected, was that for the about seven hours of the ten we would be preached to incessantly. I have no problem with anyone choosing to be religious, if you feel that it brings something that is missing from your life, then good for you. What I cannot abide, is having it forced down my throat continually, especially when I am using a public service!

Under the banner of good, wholesome, family, entertainment, we got to watch a succession of programmes each more depressing than the last. Why not ignore the televisions you may say? Well, when the volume is set to such a level that trying to drown it out with your own music is impossible, it makes it very difficult to ignore.

Intercape make a big song and dance of their fine safety record, driver training programmes and continual vehicle maintenance and for that they should be applauded. Especially considering the safety record of most other African transport. But did they really need to effectively re-write the Lord's prayer to include “please protect our passengers as we travel along South Africa's roads” and then lead us in prayer? I personally would rather trust to the driving skill of our assigned driver, than consider that my fate is in the hands of a supposedly omnipotent being!

What made the journey especially offensive though was the subject matter of the supposedly family friendly films and programmes. We were treated to the tale of a young girl who self harmed and made multiple suicide attempts until she found Jesus. This was followed by the life story of a young gang member who having already shown himself to be a thoroughly unpleasant person, suddenly saw the light at the very point he was about to take the life of a rival. Neither of the stories had any great moral about repentance; in the case of the gang member, he seemingly took great delight in the telling of his antics.

Following the real life stories we had a movie about a woman suffering from early onset Alzheimer's; another with a cast of the most stereotypically bigoted people you could ever wish to encounter and a third about a young gang member who discovered he had a terrific voice which lifted him from the American mean streets. To be fair, the final one was at least a little uplifting! Obviously in each of the films somewhere along the line finding Jesus made everything alright.

Even more worrying was an advert for a film about the violent rape of a young woman who, upon falling pregnant from the assault, decides that with the help of her faith she will raise the child and redeem the rapist who she now bizarrely loves. Can anyone see anything wholesome and family friendly about the programming, because I certainly don't.

I could go on forever and to some it may seem that I have already. I will just leave it, that it has to be the most unpleasant, cringe worthy bus journey I have ever undertaken and we still have the return journey to look forward to!

Finally at 10pm they turned the “entertainment” off and we got a little rest before Debs friend Georgie met us at about 11:30pm. Pleased to have escaped the journey we had a brief chat and then hit our beds for the night. It has been a tiring, trying day.

Day 414 South Africa 21/12/2011, Buccaneers – Buffalo Backpackers, East London. 22.82miles/37.11km, 2hr51minutes, Av 7.9mph.

Having said a slightly sad farewell this morning to all of the great people we have met, we set off up the dirt road. The temperature and humidity were through the roof this morning, not a good day to be tackling what turned out to be a very hilly route.

Things certainly improved after the first 2km when we got to the tarmac, but it was certainly a struggle in the heat. Often the shorter days turn out to be more difficult than the longer ones. It is very easy to dismiss them as an easy ride and to be honest we weren't really prepared for the day ahead.

While stopped at a small supermarket, we met a guy who had been camped beside us at Buccaneers. He offered us a lift most of the way to East London, which was nice of him, but we politely refused. By that point we were halfway there, plus there was no point in arriving too early.

Hills aside, the remainder of the journey was pretty uneventful. The road we had been on was quite narrow which made riding in the traffic a little unnerving. More so for Debs, when she was forced to head for the verge when a van came past and gave her no space at all. The same driver then beeped his horn and waved at me, you have to wonder what is going through some people's heads!

At a little after midday we arrived outside Buffalo backpackers and got checked in. Debs then tried to phone the people who would be looking after our bikes while we are away for Christmas. Having tried unsuccessfully, we headed out for lunch to a nearby pub and sports bar. The food was very good and of a suitably cyclist sized portion. By the time we had eaten it all and washed it down with a couple of beers it was all we could do to make it back to the hostel for a rest. Luckily Debs had managed to get through to Serene who would be looking after our gear and she had kindly offered to come and pick it all up. Neither of us really fancied heading out again today anyway.

Rather than hanging around the hostel all evening, we had arranged to join Christine and Jesse at a nearby art gallery. Dragging ourselves out we were picked up at about 7pm and proceeded to have a fantastically peculiar evening. Christine and the wonderfully bonkers Jesse are great.

It is not every evening that you get to make and wear an ivy crown; read the part of Puck in a scene from 'A Midsummer Nights Dream'; play with sparklers; thankfully not burn the tree down that Chinese lantern crashed into; listen to some poetry; drink plenty of free wine and watch a grown man do a fairy dance!

Occasionally life takes a brilliant yet surreal turn!